be my rose (I'm yours to keep)
by The Cinder Crown
Summary: "The heart can be very mysterious. Love, grieve, guilt, pain, hate… they are all connected in one way or the other…" It's her wedding day, and Rose Granger-Weasley only has one wish: To be with the love of her life. If only her father would accept a Malfoy in the family. :: For Wren


_... For Wren ..._

* * *

 **Written for Hogwarts School of witchcraft and Wizardry | Transfiguration |** Teapot to Tortoise [Assignment 6 | write about someone who has changed/reformed and how they struggle not to slip back into old habits. This can be anything including addictions etc. They just have to struggle to stay changed RoseScorpius

 **Written for the Monthly one-shot exchange** | WrenWinterSong

 **Words:** 4,007

 **A.N.:** Neither characters, nor the song "2U" by Justin Bieber belong to me!

* * *

 **Be my rose (I'm yours to keep)**

* * *

 **...**

 **No limit in the sky**

 **That I won't fly for ya**

 **...**

There was a knock at the door. It was very soft, but nonetheless unexpected.

"Who in the name of Merlin could this be?" Lily Luna Potter asked a little outraged as she put down the little hairbrush and walked in fast steps across the room towards the door. Well, as fast as she could, considering her floor-length, red gown.

"Lily, dear, language please." Rose' mother said shaking her head, and chuckling slightly.

Rose smiled when she heard her friend sigh at her mother's reprimand. She, too, was already done with her hair and dressed accordingly; She wore a beautiful, off the shoulder dress, held in various shades of blue, that made her look at least 10 years younger. _Dad's gonna love it,_ she thought.

"Honestly, Aunt Mione," Lily answered, "Everyone knows perfectly well that we don't have time for any interruptions now, right Rose?"

The witch in question just laughed, shrugged and slowly turned back to the tall wall-mirror in front of her and stared at her own reflection in awe. "If you say so, Lily. But I think you and Mum have done a wonderful job so far." Rose smiled brightly at her mother, who had just finished applying her daughter's make up.

Hermione smiled at her daughter. "I'm glad you like it. Now, are you going to open that door or not, Lily?"

Her cousin did as she was told and opened the door a little, but only far enough to peek through it with one eye. "Who is it?" She asked in a very dramatic but at the same time funny way, because she couldn't conceal the amusement in her voice, causing the two other witches in the room to erupt into laughter.

"Who do you think it is?" came the chuckling reply from a deep male voice, "Your dearly beloved big brother, of course. Now open the door, would you, sis?"

"You cannot come in her, Al. Women only," Lily protested smiling and shoved him back a little so he wouldn't see anything.

"What? Why the hell not?" the black haired man asked confused.

"Honestly," Rose heard her mother addressing the siblings. "Your father should have a little talk with the two of you concerning the use of proper language."

Albus just looked sheepishly at his aunt and held one hand over his eyes. "Alright. If I'm not allowed in here, can I just quickly accio something, please? Scorp forgot something, and he'll go completely crazy if I don't get it."

Rose smiled. "Go ahead, Al. Oh, and you can tell him we will be there soon."

Albus, even though he couldn't see anything, bowed in her direction before waving his wand. "Thanks, Rosie. Accio 'little black box hidden behind Scorp's favourite book'." And not a second later he held the box in his hands.

Rose, Lily and Hermione looked at him with curiosity, but Albus left without any further information, only with a quick, "Oh, and you should hurry up, too. Uncle Ron is already pacing around in front of the church. See you later."

"Poor Uncle Ron," Lily said sympathetically,

Hermione laughed and walked to stand behind her daughter, whilst speaking to her niece, "I doubt your father will be off any better when it's your turn, little flower."

Rose watched in the mirror reflection as her mother took the hairbrush and finished Lily's task of taming her flaming red hair. After a few minutes, she accio-ed a muggle curling-aid, and put her hair up, with only a few curly strands loose, that framed her face.

Rose, still staring at her reflection, smiled even brighter. "That's perfect," she said and carefully got up from the little chair she had been sitting on this whole time, carefully brushing down the various layers of her long, white dress.

"Almost," her mother whispered with unshed tears in her eyes, nodded towards Lily and lovingly touched her daughter's bare shoulders. Soon, Lily came back with a little casket, which she handed to Hermione.

"Something old…" The elderly witch said, opened it and took out a small, elegant necklace with a beautiful pendant in form of a white rose hanging on it, which she carefully put around her daughter's neck.

Rose drew in a sharp breath. "It's beautiful." she whispered and traced it with her fingers.

"And this," Hermione continued and handed her a little blue bracelet, "is from Lily."

Rose looked at her friend, tears shimmering in her eyes now.

"From what dad told me, it once belonged to my grandmother, Lily." the younger witch explained lovingly. "Something borrowed and something blue."

"Thank you so much, Lily." Rose whispered and hugged her cousin.

"You are welcome, Rosie." She replied and gave her a little kiss on the cheek.

Rose turned back to her mother and embraced her. "Thank you, Mum. For everything. I love you so much."

Hermione hugged her back, not even trying to hide her tears anymore. "I love you, too, my little Rose. Never forget that."

 **...**

 **No amount of tears in my eyes**

 **That I won't cry for ya, oh no**

 **...**

"We will meet you two inside shortly." Hermione said, squeezed Rose' hand, handed her the bouquet of white roses, gave her husband a quick kiss and walked along with Lily through the big double doors of the church.

Rose looked at her father, a shy smile on her face. "Are you ready, daddy?"

Ron sighed and looked her in the eyes. "No, but I s'pose I have to be, don't I?" He asked, fumbling with the tie of his black suit. Rose was deeply touched when he saw the white rose that was attached to it.

"I love him, daddy," she whispered in his ear.

"I know, Rosie," her father whispered back with tears glistening in his eyes, before kissing her on the forehead and taking her small hand in his. "I just hope he makes you happy."

 **...**

 **With every breath that I take**

 **I want you to share that air with me**

 **...**

The doors opened, soft music started to play and the assembled crowd in the hall turned around, watching the bride, in her beautiful white dress, being walked down the aisle by her teary-eyed father. Rose spotted her mother and brother sitting in the front row, along with Harry, Ginny, James and even Lord Malfoy.

She quickly locked eyes with her soon-to-be father-in-law, who gave her a kind, reassuring smile in return. And even though all her other friends and family members were smiling brightly at her – some of them, including her Grandma Molly already crying – she only had eyes for the tall and handsome man who was standing in front of the altar. He, too, wore a black suit with a little white rose attached at the side, and Rose smiled brightly when he saw the expression of awe written all over Scorpius' face. Next to him, his best man, Albus, nudged him politely in the ribcage, to free him from his stunned state. Lily, her own maid of honor, stood on the other side, smirking at the groom and best man's behavior.

Once they reached the front, Rose saw that her father shot her fiancé one last warning look, before rather reluctantly put her hand in Scorpius'. "I will love her to the rest of my life, Sir," he whispered before her father could even phrase a threat. All Ron said was "You better," before he headed back to his place next to her mother.

For the first time that day, Rose looked Scorpius directly in the eyes, only to be completely overwhelmed with all the emotion and love that were shining in them. "You're so beautiful," he whispered, and Rose blushed a bright crimson.

Lost in his eyes, she thought back to the day he had proposed to her…

" _Thank you," Scorpius had said one night, during a nightly stroll in London._

 _25 year-old Rose squeezed his hand and looked at him lovingly. "What for?"_

" _For everything," he had replied, "but mainly for loving me."_

" _Scorp-"_

" _Please, hear me out, Rose," he had looked at her with his big, grey eyes. "Considering our history, I don't want you to think that I took you for granted."_

" _I would never-"_

 _He held up his hand and smiled. "It's time that I come clean, since I love you more than anyone else in the world and I hope you feel the same."_

 _Suddenly, he bent down on one knee, and pulled out a little black velvet box._

 _Rose gasped when she saw the beautiful golden ring with a sparkling ruby in the middle._

" _Rose Granger-Weasley," he said, "will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"_

 **...**

 **There's no promise that I won't keep**

 **I'll climb a mountain, there's none too steep**

 **...**

Rose didn't really listen to the wizard that was holding the ceremony; she was completely lost in Scorpius's eyes and memories. She supposed she must have said 'yes' at some point, because only the wizard's "You may kiss the bride," brought her back from her day-dreaming.

She beamed at Scorpius when he encircled her waist with his arm, drew her closer to him and kissed her passionately on the lips. She put her arms around his neck, kissing him back with so much love, that she was almost oblivious to the cheers from the crowd.

"Witches and Wizards, may I introduce to you Mr. and Mrs. Scorpius and Rose Malfoy."

The broke the kiss, but stared into each other's eyes for a little while longer, before turning around to face the cheering crowd. Scorpius took her hand in his and together they descended the stairs and walked back through the mass of people towards the entrance.

During their way, her eyes wandered from several friends to her family but they stopped by her parents. She saw that her mother was at the edge of crying, but ever the brave Gryffindor, she managed to keep her tears in check. She watched as her uncle Harry clapped her father on the shoulder mumbling something into his ear that Rose couldn't understand. She looked her father in the eye and was more than relieved when she saw him looking back at her with pride shining in his eyes. For a long time she hadn't thought that he would ever give his blessing for dating Scorpius, let alone give her away at her marriage.

" _Get out of here, boy, now!"_

 _17 year-old Rose looked at her father, tears streaming down her face; her hand pressed into Scorpius'. "Please, daddy-"_

" _No," he had shouted and slammed his fist against the dinner table. It was the first time ever that Rose had seen her father this furious. "I won't allow a Malfoy to court my daughter!"_

" _Ronald!" Her mother had screamed from her place next to the couple._

 _Rose couldn't contain her tears any longer, and they started to stream down her face. Scorpius looked hurt, but he tried to put on a brave face and squeezed her hand. "Rose, I love you. But I don't want to be the reason for breaking up your family," he said, gave her one last kiss on the cheek and headed for the door._

 _Still crying, she watched him go. Then she turned around to her face father, her eyes looking at him with a mix of sorrow, anger, love and courage. "I love him, daddy. He leaves; then I will go with him."_

 _This said, she wiped her tears away and ran after her boyfriend and once she had reached him, she threw her arms around him. He started crying, too, and together and in each other's arms, they just remained standing like that in the entrance of the Weasley house. Rose could hear her mother screaming furiously at her father._

" _Ronald, what do you think you're doing?"_

" _I'm protecting my daughter!" was the evenly angry answer._

" _Protect her from what? Love?" Hermione continued in a dangerously low voice, "All you did was push her away! She chose him. And she might never come back to us!"_

 _Then there was silence. "He is a Malfoy." came her father's cold reply._

" _Yes, so what?"_

 _She heard her father laugh darkly and both Rose and Scorpius looked up, both still with tears in their eyes, but remained silent behind the door. "Have you forgotten what they did? How many innocents had been killed and tortured because of them, Hermione?"_

 _Her mother sighed. "We have killed people, too, Ron."_

" _That's different."_

" _No. It's not," her mother replied harshly. "And a lot of them have changed. Draco included."_

" _People don't change who they are. They only change what they do with it, Hermione," her father said dryly._

 _Rose heard her mother sigh again. "I don't believe that, Ron. I still have hope that you can chance, for Rose' sake," Hermione whispered. "You should know her by now, she won't stop loving him."_

 **...**

 **When it comes to you, there's no crime**

 **Let's take both of our souls, and intertwine**

 **...**

Finally out of the church, several all the people approached the newlywed couple to congratulate them. After Rose and Scorpius had accepted several presents, hugged all their friends and family members, they gave everyone the direction of their house, where the rest of the celebration was to be held. Scorpius took his wife's hand and apparated first to the location. It was a pretty large estate, which he had inherited from his mother after her death. His father had given him the key in a very symbolic gesture for this 17th birthday.

He looked at her and handed her the little black box that Albus had picked up earlier. She opened it, and found an old looking key in it.

"It's the very first key that has ever been made for the estate," Scorpius explained smiling, "I want you to have it."

Rose beamed at him. "It's beautiful, thank you!"

Slowly, and one after the other, everyone else followed and soon the lovely decorated tables in the garden were filled.

Lily stepped forward and tapped a spoon against her glass. "Lady's and Gent's," she begun smiling. "As our lovely bride's Maid of Honor, I have the duty of announcing the first dance of the night and therefore ask our stunning new couple to join me on the dancefloor. Music, please."

Scorpius held out his hand for Rose to take and together they headed towards the dancefloor. He put his arms around her waist and she laid her hand on his shoulder and together they danced to the soft rhythm of the music.

"I love you, Mr. Malfoy." Rose whispered to him once their dance had almost ended.

"I love you, too, Mrs. Malfoy," the blond replied smiling brightly.

"Mrs. Malfoy… I like the sound of that," she grinned, beaming.

He twirled her around until the last cords of the song faded. The couple was about to return to their seats, when Scorpius' father came towards them and extended his hand to Rose.

"Would you do me the honor, my dear?" He asked politely, smiling at the young woman in white.

Scorpius nodded and left to have the next dance with Lily, so Rose smiled brightly at the older man and accepted his hand. Like his son, he tenderly held her and led her across the dancefloor. For some reason, she had always had a wonderful relationship with her father-in-law, right from the start. She glanced down at her ruby-engagement ring, and thought about the night following the proposal, when she had a heart to heart conversation with Lord Malfoy…

" _Rose, my dear," Draco greeted her. "Scorpius hasn't arrived yet."_

" _That's quite alright," Rose answered and stepped inside the living room. "I actually wanted to talk to you."_

 _Draco looked at her, a little concerned and mentioned for her to sit down on one of the chairs at the coffee table. "How can I help you? Is it something Scorpius did?"_

 _The young woman vehemently shook her head; after all she hadn't intended to sound like that. "No, he didn't do anything," she reassured him, smiling._

 _Obviously relieved, the older man leaned back against his chair. "Well, what is it then?"_

 _Rose looked down at her new engagement ring and took a deep breath. "I – Scorpius told me that the ring he gave me once belonged to his mother," Rose whispered and a look of understanding washed across Draco's face, "I cannot possibly take it. I know how much you loved your wife, Sir."_

 _Draco smiled sadly at her, but reached out to take her small hand in his and started to squeeze it softly. "Rose, first of all, how many times have I told you to call me Draco?" He smirked at her blush, "and second of all, yes, both Scorpius and I loved Astoria dearly."_

 _Rose' eyes filled with tears and she quickly looked away, but Draco reached out once more and carefully lifted her chin, softly forcing her to look at him. "We will never be able to get over her death completely, but you are the reason my son is happy again. Your love makes him whole again, Rose," he said and for the first time since his wife's death his eyes began to water. "And that is something Astoria and I will ever be grateful for. I know Astoria would have loved to have you as a daughter-in-law, and so do I."_

 _Rose didn't know what to say, all she could do was stutter an overwhelmed "Thank you."_

 _Draco moved his chair closer to hers, put an arm around her and pointed to her ruby-ring. "Astoria would have wanted you to have her ring, Rose. Of that, I am sure."_

 **...**

 **When it comes to you, don't be blind**

 **Watch me speak from my heart**

 **...**

After a couple of more dances with her brother Hugo, Grandpa Weasley and her uncles Harry, George and Charlie, Rose headed over to her father. She hadn't had a dance with him yet, and after all his struggle to change his opinion about the Malfoy family, there was nothing she wanted to do more than show him how much she appreciated his effort. However, before she could reach him, she watched her father getting on the little stage. He looked at the little muggle microphone with skeptical eyes, before trying to speak into it. Rose as well as everyone else laughed when they saw him twitch at the sudden intensification of his voice.

"Always these awful muggle things…" he mumbled and realized upon the suddenly erupting laughter that the crowed had heard it. Once they had slowed down a bit, he continued, looking straight at Rose and Scorpius.

"Alright. I don't know whether or not the father of the bride usually speaks at a wedding, but I'll just do it… I actually have, too, since I promised my wife I'd do it and I don't think I'll survive it if I don't…" he trailed off and the crowed started to chuckle again. Rose observed relieved that her mother was also amongst them.

"But seriously," her father continued with a stricter face, "I have to get a couple of things of my chest…"

"First of all, I need to apologize, for being a stubborn jerk. Not only to you, Rosie, love, but also to Scorpius and Draco," he admitted and looked around the room, searching for the people in question. "The human heart is – as I was told by my wife – a very complex thing. It cannot only love, but also hate. And hate is something very difficult to overcome. I have been struggling with that for a very long time. Until this very day, to be honest."

He looked quite guilty, and Rose knew that if he kept on talking so emotional, she sure would start crying. "The reason in my case, was however a broken heart. I don't want this happy occasion to be spoiled by me bringing up the battle of Hogwarts, but in order to explain my unacceptable behavior, I will have to do so."

Ron let his glance wander until his eyes landed on Harry, Hermione and Lord Malfoy. They quietly nodded, giving him their permission to speak further.

"During that war, a lot of good people had been killed. Good friends, and family members," he waited a little until everyone had found a tissue to wipe away the first tears. "The Malfoy Family, was responsible for some of them, and that was something I thought I would never be able to forget, let alone forgive."

Rose watched a lot of people nod understanding, including Draco himself along with his mother Narcissa, who had also been happy to attend the wedding of her beloved grandson. "I despised the bare thought of my little Rosie being involved with anyone of that family. But not only my wife, Hermione, but also Narcissa's and Draco's actions to redeem themselves had caused me to rethink everything a little," her father said and looked at them.

"I struggled a lot to accept the fact that they had deserved forgiveness. But for my daughter's sake, I am willing to try. After all, war sometimes forces people to do things you don't really want to do… And as I was told by my brother in law, who had been able to make peace with Draco and Narcissa early on, I discovered that a mother would do anything to protect her son, even lie to the dark Lord himself…"

People started whispering around, after all not all of them knew the entire story of what had occurred in the dark forest all those years ago.

"Furthermore, I wasn't the only one who had suffered from a broken heart." Here he took a deep breath and locked eyes with Draco, and Rose immediately knew that her father was indirectly talking about Astoria. "Like I said, the heart can be very mysterious. Love, grieve, guilt, pain, hate… they are all connected in one way or the other… but I know that I remember holding my little Rose for the first time. And I remember the promise I gave her. That I would love her forever and that I would do everything to make her happy."

Her father's words touched her deeply and Rose' eyes filled more and more with tears, and she had a really hard time to stop them from streaming down her cheeks.

"And if all it takes to make you happy, Rosie, is to accept people I should have accepted a long time ago," the red haired wizard whispered and looked at his daughter with watery eyes, "then I hope you believe me when I say, I was a fool for not doing it sooner. Therefore I will say it in front of everyone here. Narcissa, Draco, Scorpius, I feel honored to be able to call you family."

 **...**

 **Share my life, it's yours to keep**

 **Now that I give to you all of me**

 **...**

After Ron Weasley's little speech, there was no dry eye left in the room. Lord Malfoy hugged his mother, who had started crying tears of relieve and Scorpius kissed Rose happily on the lips. After that, Rose tried to get up as quickly as possible – which wasn't that easy considering her fluffy white, princess dress. Her eyes filled with happy tears as she run towards her father and threw herself into his arms. He tightened his arms around her, holding her as close as possible.

"Thank you, daddy," Rose cried softly into his shoulder. Ron lifted her chin and whipped away her tears.

"No more tears, today, my little Rose," he said and kissed her on the forehead.

"Just in case I haven't told you yet," he whispered into her ear, "I have a new favourite flower."

Rose looked at him, one eyebrow raised. Usually his favourite flower had – of course – always been a rose. "You changed it? It's not a rose anymore?" she asked a little disappointed.

"Don't worry, my love. When it comes to you, there will always be a rose, but from this time on it will always be," he whispered smiling and gestured towards his daughter's beautiful white wedding dress, "a Rose in white."

 **...**

 **When it comes to you, comes to you**

 **...**


End file.
